Steam-heated freight car



`Ian'. 6. 1925.

A. L. MooRsHl-:AD

STEAM HEATED, FREIGHT CAR Filed. om.` 9, D1919 2 sheets-sheet 1 ANm.

@MIM

@Humax Jan. 6. 1925. 1,521,643

' A. L. MOORSHEAD STEAM HEATEDv FREIGHT CAR Filed oct. 9, 1919 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Jan. 6, 1925.

ALFRED LEE MOORSHEAD, F RUTHERFORD, N EWdJ'ERSEY.

STEAM-HEATED FREIGHT CAR.

Appucation med october 9, 1919. serial no. 329,538.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED LEE Moons- HEAD, a citizen of the United Sta-tes, and resident of Rutherford, in the county of Bergen and State 'of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Heated Freight Cars, of which the following is a specification.

In my prior application, Serial No. 854,- l0 535, filed August 1, 1914, Patent Number 1,318,457, granted October 14th, 1919, I have disclosed a freight car heating system designed for use in the storage and transportation of such goods as should be kept, at a tempera-ture different from that of theoutside atmosphere, for instance, above the freezing pointl duringjfreezing weather. As one important feature of my invention claimed in said patent, I provided a radiator which may occupy such a position as not to interfere with the goods or reduce the capacity of the storage lspace when the car is used for the shipment of goods which do not require to be heated. This radiator may be brought out vto such a position that air may freely circulate about it and a proper current of heated air be delivered to the bottom of the storage chamber when the goods in the latter are to be heated. Y

My present invention relates to the vsame general system and involves certain important improvements over the specific -construction there illuslrated. Among the 0bjects of my present invention are to secure a more el'l'eetive engagement of the circu lating air with the healer, to'seeure a more effective drainage of the water of coudensav Ition from the system and particularly from the heater if steam be the heating medium,

to simplify the construction of the heater itself, and to simplify the support which permits the heater to be held in exposed or stored positions. A further 4important vobject of my invention is to more effectively control the supply of heating medium to the heaters or radiators in accordance' 'with the z temperature within the body of the car. Other important objects and features of construction will be pointed out hereinafter. In the accompanying drawings to which reference is to be had I have illustrated one .embodiment of my ,invention although it will be evident that various changes within the scope of the appended claims may be made without departing `from thespiritof my invention. i In these drawings: d

Fig. 1, is a'horizontal sect-ion througha car provided with my improved system, said section being taken substantially-on theline 1 1 of Figure2. Figure 2, is a vertical longitudinalfse'ction taken on the line 2 2 of Figure .1,

Figure 3, is a transverse section'on a somewhat larger Ascale and ltaken on line 3 3 of Figure 1, and v Figure 4, is a perspective view of one of the radiators showing ay slightly modified form of pivotal support. f

I-have illustrated my invention as being embodied within a car which 'may serve as a refrigerator car or as a ventilator ear.

'Ihe walls of the car are comparativelyl i A thick and of any suitable insulatedv construction such as is commonly u'sed in refrigerator cars. I have made no attempt in the drawings to illustrate any specific or detailed character of wall construction. The car as shown has ice compartmntslO at the opposite endsvthereof, and combined ventilators and ice hatches 11,' above the same but these features form no portion of the invention-hereinafter claimed.

Adjacent to one. or more of thewalls ol' the car and preferably thebottom wall or floor, I provide rthe required number ol' heaters or radiators depending upon the amount of radiatingfsurface necessary to effect the maintenaneeof tlre'desired diller-l ence in temperature between the. outside atmosphere andvthe storage compartment. As shown, I provide foul-ot' thcseradiators 12, spaced in pairs adjacent to the opposite side walls anda'troppositc sides of the usual middle side doors. Each radiator ,may be formed of a plurality of parallel lengths of pipe 13 with return bends 14, as shown particularly in, Figure 4. Thel number of these pipes will depend upon the diameter and length to give the deslred radiatingfsurface. The pipes are held properly 'spaced by two or more transverse cleatsor braces 15'and onev pipe preferably the,l extreme oneV 1 3 at one side is mounted in one or more brackets 16, so as to constitutev a pintle o rhingo about which the radiator may bev swung.

Preferably each radiator is mounted in a recessl 17, slightly larger ihairtho radiator and of such depth that the'rzuliator may7 lie luft entirely below the upper surface of the floor. The brackets 16 as shown in Figure 4 are adapted to be secured both to the bottom and one side wall of the recess although any other form of bracket may be employed, as for instance, the brackets 18, shown in Figure 3, which rest only on the bottom of the recess. The radiator may be swung about the side pipe or pivot 13 so as to be raised out of the recess and to a material extent above the surface of the floor. Preferably the opposite side pipe 13b has a brace 19 pivoted thereto and normally adapted to lie on top ofthe radiator as shown in Figure. l aud at the left hand side of Figure 3, but when the pipe 13 is lifted the brace 0r sup-v port 19 may be swung over and its free end placed in the recess adjacent to one side thereof so as to constitute a leg an'd hold the radiator in raised position as illustrated :it the rightliand side of Figure 3.

Each recess preferably has a cover 20 adapted to set in so as to lie with its upper surface iiush with the upper surface of the balance of the door. These covers may be stored in any convenient part of the car whenl the radiators are raised. These covers have purposely been omitted from Figure 1 so as to avoid confusion.

When the radiators are to be raised out of their recesses and used for heating the car l preferably use a separate perforated false flooring spaced above the main floor so as to facilitate the distribution and upward movement of the air heated by the radiators. This floor may be made in any conveniently sized sections and may be taken out or stored against the sides of the car when the radiators are Within their recesses and the covers 20 are in place. This false flooring may be made of two sect-ions 21 each formed of cleats or spaced boards secured to pe'rfoi'ated supports 22 and each hinged to its corresponding side of the car so as to beV swung up against the side and held there when not inuse. This false iooring may be sub-divided transversely of the car so as to facilitate handling. In Figure 1 I have shown this false flooring entirely removed in order to more clearly illustrate the parts therebeneath. The supports 22 are of such height with respect to the width of the radiators and the character of the supporting braces 19 of the latter that the up er side of the radiator comes adjacent to t e false iooring when the radiator is raised as shown in Figure 3. When in this position the air moving transversely beneath the false flooring will come into effective engagement with the separate pi e lengths of the radiator as each pipe lengt is at a different elevation. At the saine time any water of condensation in the heater will automatically drain to the lower side. The radiators being pivoted at their sides are mana unaffected by the inertia due to sudden stop ping, starting or bumping of the car and simple forms of brackets and braces may be used as will be apparent from Figure 4.

For delivering heating medium to and from the radiators the pipe 13b is connected to a cross or end pipe 13c which terminates adjacent to one end of the pivot pipe 13a and these two have couplings 23 and 24 to pipes 25 and 26 extending up through the bottom wall of the recess. The couplings 23 and 24 are in axial alignment and are of such character that the swinging of the radiator does nbt interfere with either the flow through the couplings or the tightness of the joints. If desired, the coupling 24 of the incomping pipe may have a valve so that when the radiator is iii lowered position the supply of heating medium will be automatically shut oli'.

Beneath the car I have shown an ordinary steam pipe 26, from which leads a branch pipe 27 having a manually controlled shutoff valve 28 and `an automatically controlled diaphragm-operated valve 29. From this pipe 27, two branches 30 and 31 extend endwise of the car to transverse connections 32 and 33, which latter are connected at their ends to the risers 26 supplying the four radiators. The outlets 25` of. the two radiators at each end of the car may be connected by a transverse drain pipe 3ft which may have an automatic outlet trap 35, permitting Athe escape of water of condensation but preventing the escape of steam. It will be noted that the drain pipes 34am connected to the lower hinge pipes 13a of the radiators so that the water of condensaation in the radiators will automatically flow toward the lower side and to the outlet trap and the radiators will be kept properly drained.

For controlling .the supply of steam to the radiators the car is provided with a means for automatically turning on and oh the steam in accordance withfthe temperatnre within the cai'. The power for operating such control may be air taken from the air brake system of the train. I have-shown the vair pipe 36 with a branch connection 37 to a small storage tank 38. From the air tank 38 an air pi 39 leads to a thermostat 40 adjacent to t e upper part of the car and preferably near the door. en the temperature within the car is sudiciently high the thermostat closes this air pipe but when the temperature drops below the predetermined limit airis permitted to flow ast the thermostat through a pipe 41 to t e dia' phragm chamber of the valve 29. By providing alcheck valve between the air reservoir and the source of air supply 36, the

fluctuations in the air pressure due to the operation of the air brakes wil not interferewith the proper operation of the ther# lllll) lll@ ` 2. A freight car having a substantially flat 1 mostat system. It will of course be evident that the thermostat may be of such a character as to permit the passage of air to the da# phragm of the valve 29 when the car is suiiiciently warm and'shut off the air when the car becomes cool thereby permitting a spring acting inopposition to the ,diaphragm to open the steam valve. Details of this may follow any well-known standard construction. The same air pipe-line 39may deliver through a second 'thermostat 43 and a pipe line 44 extending to each end of the car to dampers in the .ventilators 11 and admit air to the car if the temperature in the car gets too high. The details of this mechanism are not claimed in this application but are made the subject matter of a separate application and therefore need not here be described in detail.

Having thus described my inventlon which I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A freight car having a substantially flat radiator normally disposed, closely adjacent to the horizontal floor, meansfor pivotally supporting one portion thereof about a horizontal axis, andl means for supporting another portion in raised position whereby the body of the radiator is inclined to the horizontal.

radiator normally` disposed, closely adjacent to the floor, means 'for pivotally `supporting one portion thereof yabout a horizontal axis, means for supporting another portion in raised position whereby the body of the radiator is inclined and a perforated false flooring supported above and adjacent to the raised portion of the radiator.

3, A freight car havinga `recess in onewall thereof, a radiator Ahaving one edge thereof pivotally supported about a horizontal axis within said recess and a brace secur d to `-another portion of/said radiator' and adapted thereof, a 4radiator having one portion piv- Amay be'swung upwardly about an axis paral voted about a horizontal axis withinsaid recess, and a brace pivotally secured to another portion of said radiator whereby the latter portion may be moved into or supported outside of said recess with the radiator inclined.

` 5. A' freight' car havingl a substantiallyr Hat radiator normally disposed, closely adjacent tol one wall thereof, pivotal sup ort for one edge of said radiator anda racket piv otally secured to the opposite edge for supporting said radiator in raised inclined positlon. l

6. A freight ear having a substantiall y flat radiator normally disposed, closely adjacent to one wall thereof, a pivotal support for one edge of said radiator, a bracket pivotally secured to the opposite edge for support-ing said radiator in raisedV inclinedl position, and supply and exhaust pipe connections'to said radiator in axial alignment with said pivotal support. 1 7. A frelght car having a radiator therein, means for pivotally supporting one edge of said radiator, means for supporting the opposite edge adjacent to or spaced from the floor of the car with theradiator in inclined position, a supply conduit and an exhaust trap beneath the lioor of the car and connections to said radiator in axial alignment with l Ythe plvotal center of -said radiator. l

8. A freight-car havinga recess in the floor thereofa substantially'at radiator formed of parallel pipe sections normally disposedv within said recess, a pivotalsupport within said recess for one .ledge of the radiator whe-reby the opposite edge of"the radiator lel to said pipe sections andl to inclined position, a perforated false floor spaced above said first mentioned floor, and means for supporting said radiator in inclined position with the upper edge adjacent to said false 90 floor. Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this Sth dayof October A. D., 1919.

ALFRED LEE lMoor:sanar). 

